He asked the families to rely on each other and the fire community for support.

"Hold each other tight because when you do they'll both be there," said Biden.

Fellow firefighters, who personally knew the men, also spoke.

We're told Fickes left a high-paying financial job to peruse a firefighting career, and jokingly spent a lot of his savings as a rookie buying his fire brothers cake and ice cream after a call.

"We all heard Jerry had a nice job, high-paying job, before he came to the fire department, but Laura said that Jerry had to pick up a third job to support our Guys," said Richard "Dickie" Lamb, retired Wilmington firefighter.